This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing 
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s 
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Ruth has pledged loyalty to 
widowed and childless Naomi.

In some ways, this means Ruth 
must act like a son or a husband.

She’s taken on the responsibility to care for her
mother-in-law, and right now they are both starving.

So, Ruth, knowing her new homeland’s history, 
takes advantage of a law in the Old Testament  

which allowed the poor to gather leftovers
from fields during the harvest time.

And seemingly by chance, Ruth ends up in 
the field that belongs to a man named Boaz.

Boaz learns about Ruth’s situation and that 
she has been working hard since sunrise.

He also hears that she asked to not only glean from
the leftovers (which is what the law explicitly says)

but also between the piles of
grain stacked by his workers.

This is beyond what the
law requires Boaz to provide.

Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi and her courageous
request  for special treatment compels Boaz 
to respond with extreme generosity.

He invites her to lunch and instructs his servants
to allow Ruth to take whatever she wants.

Ruth ends her day’s work with 
nearly a month’s worth of food.

Naomi is shocked by Boaz’s kindness and realizes that Boaz
is actually a relative of her late husband and a “redeemer”. 

In Israel, this is a technical term.

A family’s “redeemer” has a social and legal responsibility
to care for poor relatives who are at risk of losing

their land or inheritance, particularly
if they have lost their husband.

Not only have Naomi and Ruth’s immediate needs
been met by a generous man, but Boaz is also single.

In Boaz, there’s hope that what Naomi and Ruth 
lost in their husbands and sons will be restored.

[music]

Naomi and Ruth’s fortunes begin to turn when 
Ruth is bold, courageous, and hard-working.

Boaz calls Ruth a “worthy woman” because of the 
way she follows God’s laws and cares for Naomi.

Traditionally, the book of Ruth was placed right after
Proverbs 31, which describes a wise and “worthy” woman.

That placement invites us to see Ruth
as wisdom in the flesh.

Like the Proverbs 31 woman, she 
wakes up early and works hard.

She provides for the
needy and fears the Lord.

When Ruth is wise and faithful, 
a redeemer generously provides.

That’s the message of
the Book of Proverbs too.

When we fear God and live wisely, 
the Lord will reward and save us.

And like Ruth, Jesus is
also wisdom in the flesh.

Just as Ruth’s wisdom was clearly
seen in her sacrificial loyalty to Naomi,  

the Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus’ wisdom 
is more clearly seen in his sacrificial death.

Jesus wisely went to the cross for us, 
like Ruth went to the fields for Naomi.

And as Boaz gave Ruth a kindness
that went beyond the letter of the law,  

Jesus gives us a kindness that 
goes beyond the law as well.

The law said Ruth was allowed scraps from the
edge of the field, not a feast in the middle of it.

Likewise, the law says sinners like us deserve 
punishment and death, not provision and life.

Yet Jesus wisely gives us far more than
the law says we deserve.

And all we need to do to receive that type of
kindness is to wisely ask for it, just as Ruth did.

May the Holy Spirit open your 
eyes to see the God who provides.

And may you see Jesus as the one who faithfully, 
wisely, and sacrificially makes us his family.